New Beginnings
by FreeWriter93
Summary: A routine heist turns into something much more complicated. Rated T for Safety
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Red X or the Teen Titans….You know the drill.

Finally, after a good long while, a new instalment in what I hope will become a decent fanfic series.

This takes place a few months after Red X's debut in the world of Supervillainy. X has had many adventures over the course of that few months, but they will be addressed in subsequent fanfics.

For now…Enjoy.

EDIT: Added Epilogue

XXX

People familiar with the history of Jump City would be well aware that it started out as a coal-mining community, and although the coal mine had long since run dry, there still exists a complex network of tunnels running beneath the city. The last remnant of what once was, buried under feet upon feet of concrete and metal.

After an unfortunate mishap involving a tour group and an untimely earthquake, the tunnels were made off-limits to regular citizens. Still, that didn't stop the occasional daredevil or crook from going for a little spelunking once in a while.

It is here that we join our hero…(though that word only loosely applies to him), a fellow who fits into both of these categories. Clad in a black skin-tight suit and a pale white mask, the casual observer would peg him as some kind of stunt-man or villainous character.

But Red X was so much more than that.

As he ran through the tunnels at breakneck speed, unearthly roars echoing off the walls behind him, his mind drifted back to the events that got him into this awful mess.

It was just supposed to be a routine job…

XXX

_A few Hours Earlier…_

A lone Security Guard yawned as he patrolled the many rooms of his boss's private collection of antiques and Jewellery. He was tired, bored and lonely, but he had to make rent by the end of the week, and if that meant taking extra shifts, than that was that.

He was suddenly jolted out of his revue by a sharp pain in the back of his head. He slumped to the floor, out cold, a splitting headache waiting for him when he awoke.

This would be the second worse thing to happen to him today.

XXX

Red X looked over the Security Guard's unconscious form and shook his head. He wasn't expecting a second guard. Normally he would have just left him be and stuck to the shadows, but Red X was in a bad mood today.

That blasted idiot Numerous was in the papers again today. Just because he stole the Jump City Bridge a few weeks ago the press was all over him, saying he set some kind of new bar from criminals everywhere, like he was some kind of celebrity…

Normally this wouldn't have bothered him; he was secure in his status as the city's number one thief. Yeah, he wasn't bothered by the fact he hadn't made the news since his debut a few months ago. He wasn't bothered by the fact that he hadn't had a climatic showdown with the Titans since then. Most of all, he wasn't bothered by the fact that his name hadn't been mentioned in the article at all!

I mean, sure Red X didn't set a world record for the most amount of items stolen over the course of a week, but at least he never got caught. How much did Billy Numerous make from his one-week 'solo' crime spree? Nothing. Stealing almost everything in the city doesn't mean jack if the Titans bust your ass immediately after you're done.

Today he was going to remind Jump City who was the number one thief in this town. He was going to steal every single artefact from the Mayor's private collection, and as icing on the cake, trip the alarm so he could lay the smackdown on the Titans before leaving. Yet another thing he had over Billy Numerous: The ability to take on all five Titans and still get away with his heinous crime all by himself, without an army of clones to back him up.

…

Man he was petty.

Locking that thought out of his mind and throwing away the key, Red X set about looting the place.

XXX

Pretty soon, Red X had gathered up every non-breakable valuable in the show-room into a large sack. Now, all that was left was to trip the alarm and wait for Robin's merry band of…

'Freeze!'

So much for that plan

Red X looked over his shoulder to face the source of the voice, and was greeted by the same security guard he knocked out earlier, Taser drawn with a nervous look on his face.

'A Taser? Really?,' Red X turned to the guard, bemused by this turn of events,

'I know who you are…' the guard stuttered, Red X raised an eyebrow

'You're that kid! The one from the Hive Five!'

Red X groaned, he definitely had been out of the public eye way too long.

'First off…No, Secondly…' Red X opened hands, the X's on his palms humming to life, 'Are you sure you want to do this?'

' Stay Back!' the guard yelled, brandishing his Taser as Red X slowly advanced on him

'Come on…I'm just a kid right?' Red X chuckled, 'Or is the big man too chicken to fight some teenaged punk?'

Red X grinned as the guard let out a battle cry and charged toward him, pushing the button on his belt, he vanished.

'Too…' Red X mouthed as he reappeared behind the guard, expecting a loud crash from said guard running into the wall. The crash never came, and when X turned around, he was met with the sight of a stone statue, trapped in running position, a horrified look plastered on his face.

'Easy?' All around him the walls of the building were covered in cracks, the remaining exhibits that he hadn't taken in various states of damage and brokenness. Where the wall had been was a gaping hole. Outside, the sky was coloured blood-red, the entirety of Jump was in ruins.

What the Hell?

XXX

As soon as he completed that thought a fiery tentacle climbed over the edge of the floor, a blackened and burning demon following soon after. The demon looked at Red X and let out a terrifying roar and charged toward him.

Red X cursed as he leapt away from the Demon's swing, throwing a roundhouse kick straight into the back of its…head. A double Hammer to the back of its body and it was smashed into embers against the floor. Off in the distance, he could hear the sound of explosions and sonic booms.

There was no doubt in his mind who was responsible for this absolute…horse manure.

'Great, I disappear for one second and the Titans cause the Apocalypse.' Red X thought as he dropped down into the street, 'They better fix this before the Bruce Lee Marathon starts tonight.'

Sensing movement, Red X deftly dodges another fiery appendage, looking up, his eyes narrowed as dozens of creatures come pouring out of nearby alleyways

Red X leapt to his feet and faced the oncoming hoard, the X's on his palms glowing menacingly. The demons grind to a halt front of him, seemingly confused by the unexpected player in this fight.

Red X's raises his arms as the demons snarl at him, a single thought runs through his brain…

_Fire_

The x's grow brightly and made a soft fizzling noise before quickly going dark.

Red X's eyes widened like dinner plates.

Oh Crap.

Red X dashed away as fast as he could, trying very hard to avoid the petrified forms of Jump City's terrified populace. The creatures roared in rage and gave chase.

He berated himself for not loading up on Xenothium before going out; then again, he wasn't expecting to be jumped by the minions of hell that morning. Thankfully he still had a weapon that wasn't powered by Xenothium, something that he was sure would take care of them for good, and probably wasn't affected by whatever magical hoo-doo that turned the whole place into something out of a Silent Hill Game.

Too bad that weapon was still in his apartment, which was a significant distance away from the mansion he was trying to rob. He just couldn't catch a break that day could he?

Red X cursed as another hoard of demons came rushing toward him from the front. Reaching into his belt, Red X pulled out his trusty emergency grappling hook and pulled the trigger. The cable wrapped itself around a nearby flagpole, hoisting Red X into the air and over the Demon's heads. He swung up onto a rooftop and continued on with his escape, silently vowing to get back at the Titans for putting him in this mess…

That is, if he lived to see the end of this.

XXX

To an outsider, 357 Ackleson Street would seem like every other apartment in the slums of Jump City, save for the one-way windows and lack of a welcome mat. However, a quick look in the apartment's interior would suggest otherwise. For despite the Apartment's shabby exterior the inside was fit for a king.

A king of thieves that is

Of course, today the Apartment was considerably worse for wear. Any valuables that once sat within those walls had crumbled to dust. The apartment itself barely resembled a building anymore. In fact, it was a miracle it was still standing.

A dark caped figure swooped down and started rummaging through the wreckage, only stopping upon uncovering a rusty metal strongbox. The box opened with a loud creak, the lock destroyed by whatever force struck the box.

The contents of the box were in equal disrepair: A damaged grey belt and a torn up black suit, several shattered vials strewn about, but one thing stood out.

A red cross with pointed edges lay at the bottom of the box; the cloaked figure lifted it out and dusted it off. He grabbed the long end of the cross and pulled off the cover, revealing a jagged, gleaming silver blade.

'Ah…Nth Metal…'Red X smirked, sheathing the sword and strapping it to his back with the damaged belt, 'Definitely worth the trouble I went through to get the stuff.'

What kind of trouble? That was another story.

There was sudden movement nearby, and Red X was greeted by a squadron of demons coming towards him.

'Okay,' he thought, 'let's see what this baby can do.' He drew the blade and pointed it toward the creatures. They stopped and seemed to hesitate in their approach

'Yeah, you know what this is don't you?' Red X twirled the short sword in his hand.

'Now…'

'Who wants some?'

The demons charged straight toward X, who deftly dodged and stabbed the first one in the back of the neck. It shrieked in agony and crumbled to dust.

Dodging a strike from the second demon, Red X slashed its chest open with one swift movement; it too crumbled screaming to the floor.

The other demons growled and swung their tentacles toward him, Red X yawned deftly cut them to pieces. They too, crumbled into dust upon contact with the anti-magic metal.

A few swift slashes dispatched the remainder of the demons, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.

X wasn't sure how long it would take for the Titans to undo whatever it is that happened to the city, and it was only a matter of time before more reinforcements arrived. He was getting tired of running back and forth without the luxury of his teleporter, he needed a place to hide, but where?

XXX

_A few hours later_

Red X paused to catch his breath once the roars faded into the distance; The tunnels were serving their purpose to confuse his enemies well, but maybe he shouldn't have chosen to head for an entrance so close to the Titans Tower, which Satan himself had apparently turned into his own personal throne.

He had to admit, that was kind of funny.

Red X continued his journey through the abandoned mines. Hopefully he would be able to find a cavern of some sort where he could set up camp and wait the situation out.

He was still in the middle of working out how he could be sure that the situation had been sufficiently 'waited out'.

Maybe he'd find one of the Old man's secret bases down here…

Nah, fat chance, though X wouldn't have put it past him. Deep down the old man was always a tad bit overprotective …

He pondered briefly about going outside to lend the Titans a hand, after all, even the great Teen Titans would probably have some trouble fighting the Lord of Darkness himself…or whoever it was he saw chilling out on the Tower.

Then again he would rather keep his skin intact. In any case, this was their problem, not his. Whenever the world is threatened by some alien invasion or otherworldly horror, it's the heroes' job to put an end to it. Villains just snuck away into hiding till the status quo was restored.

And if the Titans should fail…Well, 'Red X: The Last Boy on Earth' had a good ring to it.

Red X soon found himself in a large cavern. "Perfect," he thought as he headed for the centre of the cavern, checking over his shoulder once in a while in case the demons were on his trail.

Suddenly, he heard something crunch beneath his feet. X lifted his foot and looked down.

Are those…Flowers?

Red X carefully lifted the bouquet, the flowers had long withered and died, they looked like they could crumble to dust at any second. Behind the bouquet was a small plaque:

TERRA

A TEEN TITAN

A TRUE FRIEND

Red X stood up, adjusting his night vision to get a clearer view.

He was met face-to-face with the looming form of the long-missing Sixth Titan…

XXX

Red X gasped and leapt backward, at the same time fumbling to draw his sword, only to fail miserably and tumble into a heap on the ground. Struggling to his feet, he finally managed to pull his sword and pointed it straight at the girl's neck…

There was a tense silence, before Red X slowly lowered his weapon. He took a few cautious steps toward her. Raising his hand, he rapped her on the head a few times, confirming that she was in fact, a highly elaborate tombstone.

Red X swore, sheathing his blade. That scared the crap out of him.

Thank goodness no one was around to see that.

Red X was surprised that Robin shelled out the cash to get a life-sized statue of the girl made, especially after she nearly killed them all. Well, she had saved the city from being engulfed in magma in the end; guess a statue wouldn't have been too much. He had to give Robin credit though, he sure knew how to pick sculptors. It looked almost like the real thing…

…

Is she…crying?

Creepy…

It was fitting in hindsight; He had heard the rumours, blond haired girl with earth-shattering power, disaster following her wherever she went. She finally found a place to settle down and then it all came crashing down around her.

'What were you running away from I wonder…' Red X plopped down next to the statue, fatigue getting the better of him 'bet you regret turning to the dark side eh?'

'Still, I know the feeling, sometimes it feels like nobody understands what you're going through, even family…' He paused; he was talking to a Rock.

How pathetic was that?

Well, the statue was very lifelike…he might as well kill some time while the Titans cleaned up upstairs.

Besides, a guy decked out like the Grim Reaper who fights with teenagers in spandex for fun isn't exactly the paragon of sanity to begin with.

'They mustn't have known very much about you or they'd at least send you home. Well, Robin probably knew, he does background checks on everyone, it's in our training.' Red X continued, "Maybe he felt sorry for you, he's a runaway too after all…'

"Y'know,' Red X reached into one of his belt pockets and pulled out a Snickers bar, 'The Titans didn't really talk about you much after you left, mostly tried to avoid the subject, especially when the press was involved.'

'Although, there was this one time where Beast Boy flipped out and tried to gnaw off that reporter's leg,' Red X chuckled, pulling up his mask and taking a bite out of the now open bar of Snickers, 'I think it won a prize on Jump City's funniest home videos.'

'It doesn't look like anyone's been down here in a while though,' Red X picked up the bouquet and held it up to Terra, 'At least they left flowers.'

Red X froze as he felt the earth rumbling beneath him. He looked up at the statue in shock,

'Was that…'

Familiar roars soon brought Red X back into reality, as his pursuers burst out of the ground from all sides, snarling in rage.

_Oh, Duh! What was I thinking?_

Red X calmly scanned the area, there were a lot more of them this time, far too many for him to take down, even if he did have his anti-magic uber sword.

The last day of Red X: Super Thief; Sitting in a cave talking to a statue until he got mauled by fire demons.

Still one of the better ways to go as far as he was concerned, much better than being blown up while trying to defuse a bomb or something like that.

'Well, it was nice talking to you,' Red X smirked, shoving the rest of the bar into his mouth and drawing his sword, shoving it into the ground and pushing himself up 'Shame you're just a statue…' Red X pulled down his mask took up a stance as the creatures surged toward him, 'I could have really used your help…'

The Demons slowly approached Red X, still wary of the blade he held in his hands, but this time they had him cornered, outnumbered, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide…

With unearthly roars they threw themselves at their opponent, whose sword danced through the air, slicing apart their burning forms in a quick, successive fashion. Red X fought valiantly as the demons closed in around him, their tentacles searing through his suit as they slipped through his guard. Soon his grip on his weapon loosened, and the blade flew out of his hand. The demons swarmed over him, his body burning under their touch...

Was this the end?

Suddenly they stopped, as if seized by some unknown force, they started screaming in agony as a white light suddenly engulfed the entire area, forcing X to shield his eyes as the demons were reduced to nothingness.

When the glow subsided, Red X was alone in the cavern, the demons were gone.

'It's about time…' Red X slowly lifting himself off the floor, breathing a sigh of relief, 'Took them long enough.'

Red X barely caught the soft moan and subsequent thud coming from behind him. He whirled around, frantically searching the floor for his sword...

Only to find the crumpled form of one flesh and blood Titan sprawled over the plaque of her own grave.

'You've got to be kidding me.'

End of Part 1

XXX

Epilogue

To the average citizens of Jump city, that calm sunny day went by as per normal. As normal for a city inhabited by the world's premier Teen Superhero team that is.

However, unbeknownst to them, and the rest of the world, that day was the day that those heroes fought the toughest battle of their careers. When hell arrived on earth, just for a moment, and was driven back by the courage and determination of four teenagers to save their mutual friend.

It was also on this day that a shadowy figure fought to outlast this brief apocalypse, a thief who faced off against the demons while the city's heroes fought to save it; The same thief who slowly trudged through the sewers back to his hideout while the heroes celebrated above, dragging along an armoured girl slung over his shoulder.

It was also the day of that young girl's New Beginning.

XXX


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or any other DC characters that show up in this fanfic series.

Now before anyone asks, this is NOT meant to be a shipping story, any romantic subtext you see is purely unintentional.

Enjoy

XXX

Tara Markov shot upright with a sharp gasp, her body drenched in sweat.

She looked down at her palms, they were still wrapped in the same bandages she was wearing under her armour, except that her gauntlets were gone…in fact, all of her armour was gone.

Her body felt stiff, as if she hadn't moved for weeks. She closed her eyes and concentrated, her hands glowed yellow for a few seconds before going out. Oddly enough, the usual shaking of the earth beneath her did not follow. Tara opened her eyes, her mind wrecked with confusion and worry. What happened to her? The last thing she remembered was being in Slade's lair…

It was then that she noticed that she was in a bed, a bed in a dark blue room. The curtains were drawn shut, letting only a glimmer of daylight through the window. Wrapping the blanket around her Tara swung out of the bed and walked toward the window, reaching for the curtains.

*Whump*

Turning around, she noticed a stack of clothes had fallen off the bed, dragged off by the disturbance of the blanket. She turned around and picked up the shirt, there was a note pinned to it.

'Put these on.'

Tara was sceptical about the oversized T-shirt she was holding in her hands, but anything would be better than her current attire. Putting her suspicions aside, Tara dropped the blanket and got dressed.

XXX

Tara cautiously crept down the hall, now fully awake and wondering where the hell she was. The house had a dull, detached feel to it. The walls were an ugly shade of beige, and there was no carpeting on the floor. One thing was clear though, she not inside the hideout of some nefarious super-villain, nor the headquarters of a superhero team, she was in someone's house.

What's going on?

She could think of two different possibilities, 1. This was all a dream and she'd wake up to the sound of either Beast Boy licking her face or Slade barking out orders, 2. She'd been captured by some unknown third party for nefarious purposes. However the first option and seemed highly unlikely.

Either way she was going to get to the bottom of this, whoever brought her to this apartment was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

The sounds of a climactic battle drifted up from downstairs as she approached the stairwell, laughably bad dialogue peppered amongst battle cries. Someone was watching television downstairs…the house's owner?

Quietly sneaking down the stairs, Tara caught a glimpse of the living room. It was considerably less drab than the hallway, if only because of the posh leather couch and the giant flat-screen television in front of it. The television was playing some kind of generic action movie, while a vaguely humanoid shape lay sprawled out on the couch.

Tara tiptoed behind the couch and peered over at the mysterious figure: It was a boy, rather…well-built by the looks of things, not that anything was left to the imagination, the only thing he had on were a pair of red boxers.

Well, that and a black spandex mask with a white skull on it, a thin red 'X' cutting across one of its eyes.

The mask did not faze her that much, she had long gotten used to that kind of thing. Was this her mysterious kidnapper? It looked like he was still asleep. She should probably try to find a way out of the building before he woke up…

Alas, curiosity got the better of her and before she knew it she was reaching out for his mask.

Tara gave a little squeak as she felt the stranger's hand suddenly close around hers. He rose slightly from his position and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Rule number 1," the boy's voice sounded robotic, synthesized, "the mask stays on."

Tara yelped and jumped away from the boy, latching on to the nearby lamp for support.

'Who are you?!' She struggled to keep her balance, she felt weaker somehow…

The boy sighed and got up from the couch, dragging the dirty blanket that lay underneath him behind.

'Don't…' Tara stammered, stretching out her hand, 'Don't come any closer!' Her eyes and hand glowed bright yellow and the earth seemed to shake…only for a small pebble to fly into the boy and bounce off his head.

The boy's eyes narrowed behind his mask, before she could react the boy grabbed her arm and threw her onto the couch, draping the blanket over her head.

'You're still weak from whatever it is you did to yourself the last few months,' the boy spoke, in the same robotic voice, 'You're reflexes are so pitiful you might as well still be encased in rock. I don't have the patience to deal with any shenanigans from you, especially not after all the trouble I've had to go through already. Now just sit here and…'

The boy was cut off by a load growl erupting from Tara's abdomen.

The boy sighed; Tara looked up and smiled sheepishly.

'Hang on a sec…' the boy disappeared down the hall, muttering and cursing to himself.

She was now alone in the living room, a scratchy blanket draped over her shoulders. She looked left and looked right, and bounced on the couch a few times.

This couch is…really comfy.

XXX

The boy soon returned a stack of warm TV-dinners in his hands, he set them down on the coffee table in front of Tara and took a seat beside her.

'I heard you had a huge appetite so I brought as much of this stuff as I could carry, there's more in the fridge if you want anym…' The boy looked over at Tara, and noticed that half of the trays of TV-dinners he had brought were now empty, aluminium foil strewn all over his living room floor. The girl in question was already devouring the next one at rapid speed.

'Oookay…'the boy raised an eyebrow, before quickly changing the subject, 'You probably have a lot of questions…'

'Gee, Ya think?' Tara mumbled between bites, "I just woke up in a stranger's house stark naked with no idea what happened or how long it's been, why wouldn't I have any questions?"

'Look, all I did was get that armour out of your skin,' the boy raised his hands in defence, 'You better be grateful for that, I missed out on The Big Boss and Fist of Fury …'

Tara's eyes narrowed as the boy proceeded to complain in startling detail about the events of the previous night. While she was grateful for the food, her host was doing very little to quell her suspicions. One thing was for sure, she had been wrong: This was somebody's lair, but there was little she could do about it with her powers on the fritz…

'Just who are you anyway?'

The boy stopped talking and leaned back on the couch, folding his hands behind his head, Tara could almost see his smug grin through his mask.

'Me? I'm Jump City's number 1 Thief: Red X.'

Silence fell upon the two as Tara stared at the super-thief with wide eyes…

'Never heard of you.' Tara turned away and resumed her meal.

'Doesn't surprise me,' Red X smirked, 'a good thief never stays in the spotlight…'

'Then again, I've only ever been Red X when you were…indisposed.'

Tara's hand froze, a spoonful of mashed potatoes inches away from her mouth, '…what do you mean?'

"Oh that's right…" Red X fell silent and turned away, "you wouldn't know…would you?"

'It's been a thousand years since you disappeared,' he told her.

The spoon fell to the floor, its holder sudden hit with the realization of what had transpired in the cave the last she remembered. The battle with Slade, the erupting volcano, her body turning into stone, had she really been trapped for that long? Tara thought as her vision started to go blurry, She didn't even get a chance to…wait.

"You're just messing with me, aren't you?" She frowned, shooting X petrifying glare.

"Okay you got me," Red X threw his hands up in surrender, "It's only been a couple of months."

Red X barely had time to dodge the incoming tray of food, which splattered on the wall behind him. Red X looked up and suddenly realized that his guest was crying.

'That's not funny…" Tara sniffed, returning to seating position and grabbing another box from the pile.

"Just trying to lighten the mood…" Red X said, with a hint of apology, "Sorry."

"So…what happened?" Tara continued, struggling to tear the wrapper off her next meal.

"Oh nothing much…" Red X replied nonchalantly, "Mad-man tried to flood the city, giant dragon showed up, a dashing super-thief robbed half of Jump's major technological firms while the titans were distracted…you know, the usual stuff."

"No!" Tara cried, "I meant…what happened to me."

"What happened to you?" Red X shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know, the Titans were really tight-lipped about the whole thing. As far as the general public knows you and your boss were KIA."

"That's what I thought too," Red X continued, grabbing a can of soda sitting on the end table next to him, "until I found you while I was trying to survive the Demon Invasion."

"DEMONS?!" Red X winced as Tara did a spit-take all over his coffee table.

"Yeah it was kind of a weird day…" Red X frowned, grabbing a bendy straw out of a conveniently placed cup on the same table as the soda, "Titans were real tight-lipped about that one too."

Red X opened the can of soda and put the straw into it, inserting the other end into the slits in his mask so he could drink. As he was doing this he noticed that Tara was looking at him funny.

"What?"

"Have you been wearing that mask all night?"

"Uh…yeah." Red X replied, matter-o-factly, "you know, in case you woke up."

"That's disgusting."

"Better than letting you find out my secret identity." Retorted X, taking a good long slurp out of his can of soda.

"I…" Tara sighed, stuffing more food into her mouth, "just my luck…" she grumbled, "held prisoner by another freak who never takes his mask off."

"Whoa Whoa whoa," Red X cried, putting his soda down, "Who's holding who prisoner?"

"You are, aren't you?" Tara replied bitterly, "You want me to use my powers to help you steal stuff right?"

"What? The power to throw pebbles at people?" Red X chuckled, "I can handle that myself thank you very…" Red X stopped talking…there was that glare again, he sat up straight and cleared his throat.

"Look, I'm not some maniac trying to take over the world or an old fart looking for someone to carry on his legacy. I'm just a thief, the best around." He told her, "I don't need your help and I never will."

"Oh?" Tara growled, "Then why did you save me?"

"Let's just say…" Red X's thoughts briefly drifted back to the first time he broke into the Titans Tower, "Let's just say I owed you a favour."

Tara's eye narrowed, she didn't trust him especially given what happened the last time she trusted a strange man in a mask. Nevertheless she could sense the sincerity in his voice, even if it was altered beyond recognition by the aforementioned mask. And right now, given the state of her body and her powers her 'benefactor' was holding all the cards.

"So…" she finally said, "what happens now?"

"Now?" X picked up his soda, "For now I want you to stay here until you're back in shape or your powers come back, I won't consider my debt repaid till you're back on your feet."

"Hmph," Tara grunted, resuming her meal, "Must have been some favour if you're willing to harbour someone like me."

"Am I to take that to mean that you have no objections?"

"It's not like I can do anything about it right?" Tara replied, polishing off the last of the TV dinners, "Got any more of these?"

"No but there's ice cream in the…"

Red X flinched as Tara did a 180 to face him, her eyes wide and copious amounts of drool leaking from her mouth.

"Hooo boy…"

XXX

Night soon fell on 357 Ackleson Street, within its walls a skinny blond girl slept soundly on a comfy leather couch, an old blanket draped over her; A grand total of 31 empty cartons of ice cream lay strewn about all over the floor around said couch.

Meanwhile upstairs in his workshop, Red X sat at his computer, opening and closing a black cell phone.

His brows furrowed and he gave a heavy sigh, before dialling a number.

Two rings later…

*click*

'You have reached…' a deep voice began; Red X groaned and held the phone away from his ear, 'THE PHAAAANNNTAAASM!'

'Hello Danny.'

'Red X!' the voice replied, surprised and elated, 'I wasn't expecting you to call back so soon!' it sneered, 'I trust the information I provided was….useful?'

'The money's in your account,' Red X growled, 'but you're lucky I paid you at all, you son of a…'

'Language X,' the voice touted, 'it's not my fault you lacked the necessary mechanical and medical knowledge to complete the procedure in the time I calculated. If you had just allowed me to lend my vast expertise first hand we could have been done in ten minutes.'

'…and you would have charged me double for borrowing fantastic mind of the incredible Phantasm.' Red X retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm, 'besides, it'll be hard enough getting her to trust me, let alone you.'

'Yes…how is our little runaway anyway?'

'Asleep on a pile of empty ice cream cartons' Red X sighed, 'She's gonna eat me out of house and home.'

"Ah, sweets; One of the three keys to a woman's heart," the voice laughed, "But my…you sure work fast don't you, Rawr…'

'As much as I enjoy matching with your incredible wit,' Red X replied coldly, 'I didn't call you to make jokes.'

The laughing ceased, and Red X continued.

'Tara isn't half as well as I had hoped, she can barely lift a pebble in her condition. She should be strong enough to handle herself in a few days, but she won't be able to protect herself if a professional comes knocking…'

'So I'd appreciate it if you kept your mouth shut,' Red X snarled, 'because if some nutjobs come here and wreck my apartment looking for her…'

'I know where you live.' For that small, brief moment, it was as if Red X was channelling the soul of the Dark Knight himself

'Ge..ge..ge..gee X,' the voice stuttered, no longer nearly as cocky as before, 'You don't have to threaten me…besides, there's nothing to gain from shooting my mouth off…Really…'

'Just wanted to keep all my bases covered.' Red X smirked, 'later…'

X snapped the phone shut, Danny might have an ego the size of a planet, but he could keep a secret if he had too. As sad as it was, The Phantasm was the only person X could turn to in this situation.

He didn't know how long he was going to be able to keep Tara out of trouble, but he owed her…in a roundabout way. He wouldn't have gotten the suit if she hadn't screwed the Titans over, and heaven forbid a gentleman like himself abandon a damsel in distress…

But for now, he had to plan his next job, Red X leaned back and swivelled his chair over to his bulletin board, glancing across the articles on the various conventions and goods shipments that were occurring the following week. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out his emergency Snickers, the only scrap of food left in the house.

After all, he had a bottomless pit to feed.

XXX

Author's Note:

Ha Ha! It's been a while hasn't it? As you probably already guessed I actually gave up on this project a long time ago, but after taking a look at the new series I felt inspired to try and get this thing going again; and no, not for the reasons you're thinking.

I've matured as a writer since then however, and a lot of the stuff I had planned for this series is now starting to look like really awful. Essentially I'm going to be doing this whole thing over again from scratch, I've also started up other projects since then so fanfiction is not on my top list of priorities right now.

Nevertheless, this story will receive updates at sporadic intervals; so check back every couple of weeks if you find yourself still interested in this concept.

Ta ta!


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